Scripture References – Colossians 1:13-20
Christ Is the Beloved of the Father – Continued
For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. – Colossians 1:19-20.
Paul wrote that Christ solved the sin problem on the cross once and for all. This means that one day God can bring together in Christ all that belong to Him (Ephesians 1:9–10). He will be able to glorify believers and punish unbelievers, and do it justly, because of Christ’s death on the cross. No one—not even Satan—can accuse God of doing wrong, because sin has been effectively dealt with on the cross.
If Jesus Christ is only a man, or only an emanation from God, He cannot reconcile God and man. The only arbitrator who can bring God and man together is One who is both God and Man Himself. Contrary to what the Gnostics taught; Jesus Christ was a true human being with a real body. He was God in human flesh (John 1:14). When He died on the cross, He met the just demands of the Law because He paid the penalty for man’s sins (1 Peter 2:24). Reconciliation was completed on the cross (Romans 5:11).
Warren Wiersbe recounts a story of a man who once came to see him because he had difficulties at home. He was not a very well-educated man and sometimes got his words confused. He told Pastor Warren that he and his wife were having “martial problems” when he meant to say, “marital problems.” (Later the Pastor found out that they really were “at war” with each other, so maybe he was right after all!) But the word that caught the Pastor’s attention was in this sentence: “Pastor, me and my wife need a recancellation.”
He meant to say reconciliation, but the word recancellation was not a bad choice. There can be peace and a reunion of those who are at war only when sin has been cancelled. As sinners before a righteous God, we need a “recancellation.” Our sins were cancelled on the cross.
As we review this profound section (and this study has only scratched the surface), we notice several important truths.
First, Jesus Christ has taken care of “all things.” All things were created by Him and for Him. He existed before all things, and today He holds all things together. He has reconciled all things through the Cross. No wonder Paul declared that “in all things He may have the preeminence” (Colossians 1:18).
Second, all that we need is Jesus Christ. We have all of God’s fullness in Him, and we are “complete in Him” (Colossians 2:10). There is no need to add anything to the person or work of Jesus Christ. To add anything is to take away from His glory. To give Him prominence instead of preeminence is to dethrone Him.
Third, God is pleased when His Son, Jesus Christ, is honored and given preeminence. There are people who tell us they are Christians, but they ignore or deny Jesus Christ. “We worship God alone,” they tell us, “and that is all that is necessary.”
But Jesus made it clear that the Son is to be worshiped as well as God, the Father “that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him” (John 5:23–24, NIV).
The late Dr. M.R. DeHaan, noted radio Bible teacher and author, told about a preacher who was confronted by a cultist who rejected the deity of Jesus Christ:
“Jesus cannot be the eternal Son of God, for a father is always older than his son,” the man argued. “If the Father is not eternal, then He is not God. If Jesus is His Son, then He is not eternal.”
The preacher was ready with an answer. “The thing that makes a person a father is having a son. But if God is the eternal Father, then He must have an eternal Son! This means that Jesus Christ is eternal—and that He is God!”
Jesus Christ is the Savior, the Creator, the Head of the church, and the Beloved of the Father. He is eternal God . . . and in our lives He deserves to have the preeminence.
Is Jesus Christ preeminent in your life?
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 